"Welcome to the Missing Marcos
Billions Website" is the opening greeting to Internet
travellers when they arrive at http://www.marcosbillions.com/

At the start of August this year
Australian investigator Reiner Jacobi and lawyer David
Chaikin launched a new web site to open wide the
discussions about the Marcos billions. They say,
"this site is being published due to the attempts to
suppress the free press of the Philippines," and will
be "complemented by a comprehensive documentary site
which will cover the Marcos Dictatorship and the tracing
and recovery of the illicit assets of the Marcoses and
their cronies."

The background wallpaper on the page is
a photo of a modest, almost demure, Imelda Marcos in a
white veil. The introduction gives this brief history:
"In February 1986 Dictator Ferdinand Marcos and wife
Imelda fled the Philippines. They took with them billions
of dollars stolen from the Philippines people. It took the
Swiss banks thirteen years to return some of this stolen
loot. The vast bulk of it is still missing, hidden away in
secret accounts in Switzerland. Here we identify the main
players in Switzerland and the Philippines who have
conspired to conceal at least 13.2 Billion $US of Marcos'
assets. Reiner Jacobi's revelations have touched a raw
nerve with President Estrada who is now suppressing the
hitherto free press of the Philippines."

Meantime, the Philippine Daily
Inquirer reported President Estrada saying in a radio
interview that stories about an alleged new deal with the
Marcoses were pure speculation. "I do not bother with
baseless, empty speculation because if I did, I would be
wasting my time." Though it was Imelda Marcos who had
claimed that a settlement deal would be completed
"very soon," Mr. Estrada took a shot at
newspapers for picking up the story. Asked if he would
"discipline" Marcos for bragging about the
supposed deal, he said: "I think she has also the
right to talk." He also said freedom of expression
was one of the rights of Filipinos in a democracy. (PDI
Interactive, 26/8/99; "Marcos loot hunt now on the
Web")